BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Now Covered by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in a research note issued to investors on Sunday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,130.85.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $822.38 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $127.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $968.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $992.74.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 in the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Collier Financial acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

About BlackRock

BlackRock, Inc is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to institutional, intermediary, and individual investors including corporate, public, union, and industry pension plans, insurance companies, third-party mutual funds, endowments, public institutions, governments, foundations, charities, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, official institutions, and banks.